Following the end of the cataclysm, Alliance and Horde forces come to blows yet again, and though their war they come across the long lost land of Pandaria, an ancient land shrouded in ...
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Following the end of the cataclysm, Alliance and Horde forces come to blows yet again, and though their war they come across the long lost land of Pandaria, an ancient land shrouded in dense mist, and rich in secrets. Who will be the first to claim this land for their own? The Alliance or the Horde?

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In southern townlong stepps there is an area called "the widening deep". In there, there is a panda called adele, she can be found rolling all over the area. A direct reference to singer Adele, and the song "rolling in the deep" See more »

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User Reviews

I held off buying this expansion for a long time because of several reasons.

Firstly, I play only occasionally, resubbing for a couple or three months and then quitting again.

Secondly, I suspected it would be more of the same and didn't see the point.

Finally, I wasn't overly keen on the direction the expansion was taking. I mean, Pandas, and the whole eastern design wasn't my thing.

However, I did eventually take the plunge and get it and here are my impressions.

Bright, shiny and works as it is meant to. I didn't come across any bugs that I can recall, but then again, the expansion had been out a long time by then, so anything amiss was probably ironed out.

Pandas and the eastern theme was not so much to my liking, but it was far less irritating than I imagined. There were a number of more involved and interesting quest lines but essentially the game play is just more of the same. Grind to max level, then spend ages in one or two small areas trying to get drops to improve your gear.

As with every expansion before it, within the first zone of the new continent, you will entirely replace your old equipment, which will (barring a transmogrification usage) then be sellable junk. This happens with every expansion and it would have been nice if they spaced it out a little more, so that you might hang on to an older piece of equipment for a zone or three before replacing it.

To make matters worse, there is a village which is easily reachable in the first zone which sells equipment that is better than anything you have with you at the beginning. Simply hop off the airship, run there, and spend to equip yourself for the next couple of zones.

As if they decided to rub this mechanic in your face deliberately, there is a zone called the Timeless Isle where the same thing happens at max level.

Other than that, the zones look very nice and scenic. But the graphics still lag behind everything else and the combat mechanics are getting ever simpler and more dumbed down.

For example, I took my Death Knight to the first zone and, although the inevitable change-for-change's-sake mentality had messed with his spells and abilities, it took me less than half an hour to figure it all out to the point where I had a rotation down that would see me through any encounters. After that, things became an exercise in endless repetition.

I guess my biggest gripe with this expansion is the same that I've had with all of them. Namely, that they are just more of the same. But then I guess if you have the most popular MMO in history then it is easy to fall into the mentality of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" The trouble with that approach in this case is that your game looks increasingly dated and feels way behind the curve. No one expects Blizzard to completely redo the game from scratch. But how about introducing things like player housing, or better graphic textures, for example. If you think that sounds like a lot of work, then don't forget just how much money Blizzard makes each and every month from subscribers. They went so far as to revamp the vanilla WoW continents in Cataclysm. I doubt adding higher resolution textures would be an issue.

All in all, MoP was something of a disappointment. Another new continent, sure, but just more of the same old, same old as far as the game goes.

These days, your best bet as far as entertainment goes is going back over older dungeons and raids that you might have missed, soloing them and maybe going on a mount gathering binge. But even that has its limits. I reached mine after less than two months with this expansion, which seems about the limit of useful play for me from any of these expansions.

Will I get the next expansion? Of course! But I doubt I'll get much more enjoyment from it and I notice my interval between resubs is getting larger and that has nothing to do with the length of time it takes Blizzard to churn out another expansion. The game just doesn't hold my attention for long any more. I get my fun from each new effort, and then go on my way.

SUMMARY: More of the same. Limited innovation. Blizzard focuses, as always, solely on the end game. A clear case of the destination is the thing, not the journey.

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